prayer is often the first thing to go

It’s been a very busy and intense season – especially w/ the unveiling and soon launch of the grassroots poverty organization, One Day’s Wages. Not just with stuff to do but honestly, stuff on my heart and mind. I’m not sure about you but I can acknowledge and admit that when I get busy, and my time and mind are scattered, the first thing to go is my rhythm, discipline, and joy of prayer.

I’ve been convicted of this again…particularly, in praying for the people of my church community. The life and roles of a pastor continue to grow and evolve but one thing shouldn’t change:

Love, serve, care, and pray for your flock. Model these things so that they do these for one another.

Questers: If you’re reading this, accept my apology for not being in faithful prayer for you these recent weeks.

With that in mind, I’m asking you a simple question in hopes that it may inspire each of us to be reminded that God hears our prayers and He often prompts us to be in prayer, care, and service for one another.

Share as little or as much as you want:

Who or what are you praying for?

Me? Well, it should be obvious. Been in prayer for numerous within our church. Not just thinking of them but praying for them.

I thank you too Eugene for your vulnerability. I’m guilty as charged. Currently I’m praying for an open door with those I seek to serve in the Mosaics project, for my children a lot and for resolution to our housing situation.

now this is a cool post. Prayer? I pray that someone says hello to me at church. It’s a rarity in these modern church models with hundreds and in some cases thousands of people ignoring the new comers so that they can get the best seat in the house, in case they make the webcast

I’m a few posts late today, so I started reading the human trafficking post and the 24 comments, before I scrolled down to this post with its 4 comments. Very interesting.

Here are some observations from both posts:
We get a lot more “involved” or passionate about concrete things like sex slaves than we do about prayer–though we’re often at a loss to know what to do with either.

We’re tired of causes, we feel overwhelmed with the needs of this hurting world, and we want to be like Jesus–we want to be His hands, His Feet, even though we’re not real sure what to do. I think being overwhelmed leads to striving, scurrying, being distracted, losing the rhythms of our lives, scrambling inside…

Sometimes we might equate praying to posting on FB or joining a cause group which makes us feel better but doesn’t really accomplish anything.

When we decide to do something, we join causes–write emails, post on blogs. That is easier than sincere, devoted prayer.

Eugene–you are the third pastor I’ve read this week who has written about his renewed commitment to prayer. I believe our warrior God, our beloved Savior, our powerful indweller is trying to get our attention. In challenging our leaders He is also asking them to challenge us! Thank you!

I too am guilty of being distracted, pressured and scrambling. Yesterday I confessed, and today I took a mini prayer retreat. Do I have clarity on the things that bring pressure to my spirit? Not yet. But, those things are back in my Father’s hands and I’m not carrying the weight of this needy world on my shoulders–at least right now. I still care deeply, I still want to know what I can do to make a difference, but I am once again admitting that God is the one who will ultimately accomplish His work in and through me and you to bring His salvation, justice and mercy to our needy world.